


Only a Matter of Time

by MoonmadeofInk



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: 2nd POV, Anxiety, Depression, Dermatillomania, Gen, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader is ambiguous, Resets, Self Insert, dermatilomania, heavily hinted depression, reader - Freeform, will update tags as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5239538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonmadeofInk/pseuds/MoonmadeofInk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months have past since the barrier broke down, and monster and humans are working together to start anew. But it's too easy, isn't it? They shouldn't have gotten their hopes up. After all, everything resets eventually, why not try... something new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Sweats nervously i haven't written fanfiction since my naruto weaboo days good lord im so ruSTY  
> BUT im always looking for feed back! be it suggestions or critiques, let me know!  
> This is sorta a self insert, and if thats not really your thing then i totally understand. you cool with that? alright then! please enjoy! :D
> 
> -MmoI

**Only a Matter of Time**

**Chapter 1: Don't Trip**

It’s been about one month since the barrier has been broken. Unfortunately it was around Halloween time, so as monsters of all sorts started pouring out of the Underground, people thought it was just some well-coordinated costume competition or something. It wasn’t until the King, Asgore you think it was, arrived accompanied by the child who helped break it down, that people realize it wasn’t a joke, and that the centuries of a monster free world was over. Things were changing quickly with new monsters arriving every day; New towns are being built, monster business are starting to sprout one by one, and organizations to help monsters settle formed.

Most fellow humans were rather accepting of their new neighbors, but of course there are bad eggs. Pathetic groups tried working together to keep monsters out of human society, but they never lasted long. Hate crimes have been low, but it’s disgusting when they happen. To be honest, you didn’t even think monsters existed. Like the majority of the population, it was just a rumor that the race was real, or that the old war even happened. Look at the world now! It wasn’t like you didn’t care that monsters existed, you’re no scrub. You’d be lying if you didn’t get spooked every now and then when turning the corner to be face-to-face with sweating, muscular horse… thing, but the novelty of surprise has been wearing off.

Every new encounter reminded you of how ignorant you are about monster culture and society. Life was changing so fast for you personally that time was never put into the schedule to explore the roots of monster and human history. Today you’re going to take this mistake of yours in a rather literal sense.

Today is the day you choose to climb Mt. Ebott.

It’s been a while since you climbed a mountain, a neglected hobby of yours. None of your friends enjoyed most forms of exercise, not that you don’t hate it either, but nature is kickass. The weather was reaching that odd point of being in between cold enough to snow, but never actually snowing. You opt for a tank top, jeans, tall black boots, and your long black cardigan. Man, you love that cardigan. The sleeves are just the right length, its long and witchy, making you feel all cool, and it even has massive pockets! Very convenient.

You also silently thank whatever god is out there that you are always over heated. Even though the temperature is dropping to the 20’s, it’s still enough to make sweat with the few layers you have on.You were missing something, however. Ah, yes, your necklace. How could you forget? You bought it the first Human-Monster Fair a few weeks back, the memory still fresh.

\---

_The autumn breeze rolled along your skin and the warm colored leaves complimented the hues of the crowd. The smell of new spices from the Underground filled the air and chatter between cultures bloomed in this small corner of the world. Stalls run by both human and monster alike sold their crafts in a celebration of bringing two worlds together._

_Food, drink, and friends is all you really need, isn’t it? This annual fair reminded you of that, and with the addition of the monsters this year, it only brightened the future up to everyone, introducing everyone to new customs, humor, and bonds with monsters, even if it’s only for a kind passing moment. You spent the whole day helping out your friends stand, and finally had a few hours to spend exploring the fair and see what you could spend your earned bills on. You really wanted to spend it on a monster owned business, or at least one that is equally human and monster run._

_Amongst all the grand and decorative attractions and shops, one truly caught your eye. It was a dinky looking thing, and didn’t seem to have a lot to offer, but seemed welcoming. Walking over, it only had two people manning it. A humanlike monster, maybe a skeleton, sat asleep on a folding chair while accompanied by a small human child, with messy hair and stripped shirts. You couldn’t really remember either of their faces. Hm, maybe this memory wasn’t as fresh as you thought._

_The child waved warmly towards you, pointing at a sign sitting next to an empty flower pot, even though you swore there was something yellow a moment ago._

_“Please take a moment to browse our wares! Everything here is made in honor of those who made sacrifices in releasing Monsterkind from the Underground. Any donations go to real spiders.”_

_The child hummed and busied themselves with climbing the snoozing monster, apparently trying to get under the puffy jacket donning them, and fiddled with parts of the coat. You took a moment to look over the table. It had keychains of ballet slippers, varying sizes and patterns of aprons, hand-made bandannas with embroidered muscles, and things of similar caliber across the table. On the end of the table with the pot and sign had a small jewelry display. All it held was six necklaces, all fake gemstone hearts in every color but red. Damn, reds one of your favorite colors. Oh well. The next best was the dark blue, which you politely asked the child to purchase. The child hopped down from the napping monster to put the necklace in a cute little package and waved at you again. You think they might’ve given you a smile, but the memory was too blurred. It seemed likely, considering how sweet the kid was._

_\--_

You smile from the pleasant memory and equipped the necklace, feeling the texture of the faux gem cut it was given. Ever since purchasing the necklace you felt uncomfortable going about the day without wearing it, and felt a sudden ping of guilt for not putting it on earlier. No time like the present! You slung a cute small black knapsack other both shoulders, containing only the essentials; some band-aids, phone, wallet, house keys, and tissues. That’s all one needs, right?

Stepping out into the brisk late fall air fills you with DETERMINATION.

Crunching the leaves under you boot reminded you of the stories and myths surrounding the mountain, as the earth slowly began making a shift upward, indicating the beginning of the trek. Obviously there’s the story of the war, but you also remember all the stories of people going missing around here. If you remember correctly, it was mostly children, but you have heard of people older than that going missing as well. Each case had been spaces out at random periods of time, and although you can’t remember the exact time of the first official report, you know it was over 60 years ago. Despite each case of missing humans being virtually identical, there was no consistent time gaps in between. Sometimes it would be decades, months, sometimes just days. Even though everyone spoke of these six cases, you had a slight sick feeling that the number was a bit higher than that.

A branch you didn’t pay attention to smacked your face, nearly knocking you into a bramble bush. Your jacket still got caught in the thorns causing a mild struggle to free yourself and progress. As you climbed higher, everything nature had to throw at you was holding you back, almost as if the world was throwing a giant sign screaming “DO NOT ENTER” at you. But you are oblivious to those kind of signs. It throws off one’s sense of adventure! Man, you’d totally be one of those people to get brutally murdered in a horror film, huh?

You decide to brush off the somewhat morbid thought and continue.

Your calf muscles ached as the scale continued, and felt blessed upon realizing your boots have grip, preventing any kind of slippage from patches of smooth stone underfoot. Dirt began building under your fingernails, and elbows becoming scrapped whenever you slipped, but the pain would disappear with the assistance of the unkind, biting gale. Howling wind bred from the once calm evening breeze, whipping around the small amount of hair left on your head. Vision began blurring with tears as the sharp cold screams in your face, your glasses providing no protection. You begin doubting that your efforts to discover something to grab onto are resulting to be fruitless, until you hear a voice.

“Help!” the voice called out. It sounded like a child. Whoever it belonged to sounded panicked. The voice’s desperation kicks you into high gear, and you throw a leg onto the upcoming ledge in hopes to get a look around. It brings you to a clearing with a straight forward path that appeared to be hollowed out and long forgotten, reclaimed by nature as tree roots and dying wild flowers litter the path.

“Where are you?” you call out, making a brisk pace down the path, trying your best not to trip on the roots and pitfalls.

“Keep going! I’m over here!” true to their word, the voice coming closer. As your steps slowed, a small child came into view. Their head poked out from a pit, gripping onto the earth for dear life. “I-I’m slipping! Please hurry!”

 _‘Don’t just stand there, run you dummy!’_ Your mind went blank as you ran towards the child, not really thinking too hard as your heart beat faster in anticipation. Right before the earth crumbled from their hands, you grabbed onto their arms.

“Don’t worry kid, I got you! It’ll be ok!” you pulled them up to the surface, and breathed for a moment to get the adrenaline to stop flowing. The child was breathing heavily but otherwise didn’t seem to be hurt. They wore baggy jeans and a green-yellow stripped shirt, which was now stained with soil and grass. Not super noticeable, you hoped. Didn’t want to get this kid’s parents worried sick. You rose to your feet and offered a hand to the child, trying to give a warm smile. “It's ok, you’re safe now! You got a name, kid? My name is-“ before you could finish, you could feel two small hands roughly push you in the stomach, but in all honesty it felt like a punch. The force threw you backwards and over the ledge you just saved the child from. Before you slipped into the darkness, time slowed down long enough for you to witness their face distort into a grotesque shape.


	2. Every Flower Has It's Thorns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> obligatory meeting flowey and briefly toriel chapter  
> no worries, I'll be skipping some parts of the tutoriel (i mean tutorial) but Reader will acknowledge them happening, just not in the same detail as the other stuff. anyways, have fun!
> 
> -MmoI

**Only a Matter of Time**

**Chapter 2: Every Flower Has It’s Thorns**

White noise burned in the air as all senses spiral, trying to get a grip on reality, to get a hint of what’s going on around. You decided to try something that would be gentle on both mind and body, and took a deep breath as a first move. Warm, damp earth and grass welcomes you, and even maybe a hint of daisies, perhaps? That light note was new to you, but still resembled something of a flower. Eyes closed, you turn your head, kneading your forehead into the plants. To your surprise, the flowers are incredible soft and remind you of pillows. Man, you don’t remember your room being this forest-y. Sure, you had a few house plants and are kind of a tree hugger, but last time you checked you didn’t dump roses on your bed just to fit some kind of aesthetic. Might as well get up, your work is probably gonna call you in to help with a shift. After all, it’s only a few days before Halloween. Your eyes open and become blinded by gold, and turning your head only introduces more flowers and a dark room.

Definitely not your room.

You need to get up now.

That is, if your entire right body didn’t want to scream murder. You roll over and inspect yourself. Bloody finger tips, scrapes, and many small nicks decorate your body. You lift up your shirt and a massive bruise shows on most of your right side, matching your right arm. Your arm didn’t feel broken, but the muscles burned at any movement made. Great, now you’ve lost about 70% of your offense. Better hope your old dance lessons paid off, ‘cause you’re down one limb. With a good arm you reach up and feel your face, noticing the left part of your bottom lip was split. It wasn’t bleeding but it felt like a smile could trigger it to reopen.

You sit in the flowerbed, and try to remember anything, hoping you’re not suffering from some strange amnesia. You remember your name, general location, it’s year 201X, and Halloween is in just a day or so. That doesn’t explain where you actually are, or why you’re wearing an outfit you don’t remember putting on. It looks badass and adventurous, though. Props to whatever version of you decided on it. That’s enough self-praise for now.

You feel a light pressure on your chest and look down to find a dark blue heart on a black cord around your neck. You definitely don’t remember this. It’s beautiful, however, and decide to leave the pendant tucked away under your shirt.

Lucky your bag lied on a few feet away from you, and decided to rummage through in hope of some clues.

Nope. Absolutely squat. All that’s in here are some essentials. Well, essentials and some pepper spray located in a small side pocket. At least Other You wasn’t a total loser; 1 point for Other You. Checking your phone didn’t help. There wasn’t any signal, so you couldn’t read or send any past texts or emails. Maybe looking through the pictures would help? You find some selfies you don’t remember taking, but nothing else out of the ordinary. The battery still had some charge on it, and decided to turn off the phone and store it away. Ugh, this is all too much, even if it’s a bit exciting. Perhaps a snack would clear your thoughts.

The thought of food caused your stomach to ache, but more so from muscle pain than actual eating. The bag did not hold anything edible anyways. You decide to take away one point and the previous statement. Other You is a total loser.

Enough pointless shit, you need to get outta here. Wherever ‘here’ is.

Standing up proves to be a challenge, causing your head to spin, and without anything to steady yourself with you tumble back into the flowers. You stand up slower this time, and thank god that your ankle isn’t twisted or some other inconvenient crap like that. The light from above stretches far enough into the darkness to make out a path, ending with an arch sandwiched by broke pillars. Passing through brought you to a much similar area. Only this time it was only a spot light, and one golden flower.

It seems innocent enough. If anything this flower looked healthier and bigger than the previous ones, standing tall and facing you. Nothing else is around but another arch way, and you begin to stride on over. That is, until a voice filled the silence, along with some creepy, cheery music.

“Howdy!” You scream and jump back, almost falling over but managed to catch yourself this time. “I’m Flowey, Flowey the Flower!”

Amazing. Whoever was responsible for giving it that name must be really good at naming things.

You look all over the emptiness, hoping that your fears of inanimate objects randomly coming to life wasn’t actually happening. Eventually your gaze had nowhere else to land but back on the golden flower.

It looked at you with a friendly smile, it’s eyes pitch black. Whatever this thing was kept staring at you, wordlessly as the odd music continued playing from who-knows-where. At first you thought it was waiting for you to say hello back, but instead it felt like those black eyes held curiosity, like it’s studying you.

No words are exchanged. It never breaks eye contact or changes expression. The music keeps looping. It’s awkward. No one is happy with this.

Not only was this awkward, but you begin to feel threatened, or at least that’s anxiety speaking for you. It’s just a talking flower, right? What the hell could it do?

It’s line of sight shifts to the side. “Well, this is certainly interesting.” The eyes come back to you, letting out a surprisingly childlike giggle. “Hehe, golly! You sure must be confused! After taking a fall into the Underground, you seem pretty beaten up! I’ll show you how things work around here!” It winks and sticks a tongue out in a playful manner. Wait… you fell? “Here’s how us monsters greet each other!” Wait, monsters? Like the ones from all those old-school superstitions? Not a lot of time was given for you to think about it as a pressure wrapped itself around your body. It squeezed hard and two clicks cut off the music briefly, and replaced your vision with total darkness. Shit, did that thing… snap your back? No, this isn’t how death worked, at least, you hoped.

Time again wasn’t on your side, as your thoughts are interrupted by a new, quite literal playing field. You couldn’t see your limbs, or turn your head, but could see a dark blue heart floating in front of you. It would probably have been terrifying to witness, but considering it was a cartoon style heart it wasn’t too emotionally scarring. Actually, it’s the same color as your new accessory. Even though you didn’t have a body in this strange… place(?) you reached to the heart. You felt like you had to protect it. This only caused the heart to move, and a quickly observed that it moved all around the same way. A white box closed in the heart, and even though you didn’t feel yourself here physically, you felt trapped as well. the knowledge that there’s a lack of roaming space has anxiety crawling up your back. Below the box are a bunch of strange symbols and a bar that’s green. Next to the bar is **HP 20/20** , but in all honestly none of this was making sense.

“Wow, having fun yet?” The voice brought you back and noticed it, Flowey you guess, above the box and it’s longer in color. The music isn’t stopping. You’re starting to get nervous. “But don’t have all the fun without me!” you start moving the heart side to side, as if trying to swing it against the wall in an effort to break them in you panic, but no matter how strong you willed it, the thing was moving as a snail’s pace. It reminds you of yourself. But this isn’t the time for shitty symbolism. It’s run away time. The possibilities of this happening are starting to seem like a distant hope.

“That right there is your- … _a_ SOUL, hehe! You can make this SOUL stronger by gaining LV. What’s LV stand for, why LOVE of course!” you didn’t really care what Flowey is saying anymore, instead focusing your energy on trying to find a way out of this! “Awww, it seems like you’ve lost a lot of HP from your little tumble! Down here, us monster can heal each other, and healing is shared through little, white… ‘friendliness pellets’. You want some HP, don’t you?” white spinning ovals fly appear out of nowhere, and they reminded you of spinning blades, and fear is spreading through you as the threat is becoming more real. While this state of being didn’t hold solid matter for you to feel, it didn’t stop feelings of terror, or pain you discover. The ovals hit you, causing the heart to flicker and dense pain tear through you. It felt like rocks and dirt digging into your body as if you tripped, but the rocks didn’t stop digging. The ratio of green to red shifts, and the fraction changes to 1/20. The only good thing to come out of this is the music stopping.

 **“Y o u i d i o t. W h o w o u l d p a s s t h i s u p?”** the once cheerful face twisted into something horrific as you became surrounded by the same attack. You want to collapse and cover your eyes like a child, and pray that this all goes away, but in this realm there are no eyes to tear away from witnessing your own probable demise.

You aren’t ready to die. Man, normally you would’ve let this happen, let this probably-demon kill you, but… for the first time in what feels like forever, you felt like you were about to embark on a real adventure. Something you love and miss. But now, you stand alone in this strange void and no longer want embrace what’s coming your way.

Everything stops.

A small shriek is heard and before you could think the void dissolves, along with Flowey’s presence, bringing back reality. You find yourself in the same standing position, but collapse to your knees and fulfill the desire to cover your face. You didn’t feel like crying but shutting the out the sudden flood of stimuli feels like a good solution right now. The feeling of the digging rocks left once you came back into the real world, so hopefully it meant whatever damage you received during that episode didn’t translate over into this reality, but you still felt shaken up.

“I’m… I’m still alive.” Did you do that? No, you just accepted fate and waited. But why are you still here?

“And thank goodness you are!” Your head shoots up and you immediately scramble backwards upon seeing nothing but purple fabric. “Ah, do not worry! That nasty creature is gone. My name is Toriel! Are you hurt at all?” After getting a view, the voice belongs to… a goat lady.

That’s it. That’s the best explanation you got.

Incredibly towering stature, pristine white fur, small horns, and a kind smile with some sharp teeth poking out. The smile shifted into a look of genuine concern, noticing all your injuries. “Oh my, you seem hurt, let me heal you.” Before you could even protest, she kneels down beside you and a green flame conjures in her massive palm. It radiated heat, but the flame seems to hold some form of viscosity, flowing in the air like a gentle stream. Toriel guides it over your chest and you feel some relief. Some of your body aches lightened up a fraction, but the scrapes and split lip healed up only about half way. “My apologize, small one, while my healing magic restores HP it can only do so much for physical injuries.” You blink in awe, both at this magic and her sheer kindness.

“Uh… it, it’s fine! Thank you, actually, for saving me and such. My name is _____” She smiled at you and rose, helping you stand as well.

“Hello, _____, and welcome to the Ruins.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> baddabingbaddaboom these are the end of chapter nooooootes  
> not much to say but please leave any feedback, be to critique, suggestions, ideas,or just any thoughts and feelings! thank you so much, it means a lot to me!! :DDD
> 
> -MmoI


	3. Mind Your Puzzles and Q's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!! Sorry for updating this so late! Holidays kinda swept me off my feet, since I kinda work two jobs n stuff. Then I had an exchange student stay with me and my family and now I'm working on getting my first apartment- lets just say it's been crazy! anyways enough about me-
> 
> I know this story is a self insert, but bc im a piece of self indulgent garbage a lot of physical descriptions, personal problems, etc will be reflective on my own. I aint gonna stop you from putting yourself in the position, but if somethings don't match up with you (ie: the personal problems) i apologize in advanced. I will be tagging it and other things as they pop up, but there are mentions of skin picking/dermatilomania in this chapter/fic, so if that bothers you you have been warned. it will be somethign that is addressed in future chapters, also fair warning. in future chapters there will be drawings to go along w/this fic done by a very good friend of mine (who will be created no worries). I don't wanna spend too long in the RUINS, but Im trying my best to drop some plot-hint bombs throughout the text. once the RUINS are behind and we reach Snowdin, more plot heavy things will happen, but alas there's only some much one can do in the RUINS. Afterall, it's no place for someone to grow up.

**Only a Matter of Time**

**Chapter 3: Mind your Puzzles and Q’s**

“Come, littl- young one, I will guide you through the catacombs. This way.” Toriel’s warm, fanged smile graced her features before she turned around and walked ahead of you. Damn, she’s so tall and… elegant. With her beautiful, pristine white and purple dress, along with her politely folded hands and poised steps, you couldn’t help but hold something along the lines of admiration towards her. Unlike how you’d expect someone of high social status, however, her stature doesn’t scare you away; in fact, with the way her long ears and dress bob along with every step, you feel almost like a little duckling wanting to tag along. You don’t really have a choice though, the only direction is forward.

She passes through pillars that seem more intact than the previous set, and you follow close behind. A rather difficult task, considering how much taller she is than you and her strides are long. You don’t even consider yourself short and she still held maybes a foot and a half on you. Upon entering a new room, there’s a noticeable shift in the air. The pleasant warmth is still present, but it’s much dryer and the earthy smell is almost nonexistent.

The color of the room is what surprises you more, as there’s nothing to see but purple! Man you love purple. Now that you think about it, you love almost every color. You need to pick a real favorite one day. Today is not that day.

As Toriel ascends the off-white marble stairs, you are distracted by a golden light resting in a square of red leaves. You try to ignore the slightly smothering, yet patient, stare she gives while you investigate. You reach out a hand to interact with the light and-

Nothing happened.

You frown. This random ass light is practically screaming for your attention, how come it doesn’t do anything?!

***Ignore it.**

Your frown deepens. That’s not your train of thought. Perhaps… no, Toriel doesn’t sound like that at all. Glancing up at her awards you with an innocent blink. It’s probably just fatigue from that near death experience with a demonic flower. Yeah.

You wander up the marble stairs, also choosing to ignore the muscles in your legs screaming at you, the soreness in your right arm, and follow the lady ahead. Pausing to rub some hanging ivy in the entryway between your stinging fingertips, it’s almost shocking to feel how soft and not-fake it actually was. How was a plant growing here? The sunlight didn’t reach this far. In fact, where was the light in this room coming from? Looking up, the ceiling is a matching faded purple. Looking down, there isn’t a single shadow to pinpoint. Before getting too lost in complete confusion, Toriel’s voice brings you back.

“Welcome to your new home, innocent one.” _Hah_. Wait, home? She must have the wrong- “Allow me educate you in the operations of the RUINS.” Some large, raised stepping stones litter the floor to her left, the floor faded in a specific pattern in the center of the stones. Behind her, there’s a row of short spikes in the next doorway and a yellow switch to the right of it. She steps on every stone with the exception of those residing in the faded area, each stone making a distinct click. The short spikes fall lower to the floor. “The RUINS are full of puzzles; ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys.” she continues, “One must solve them to move from room to room. Please familiarize yourself to sight of them.” Turning around, she proceeds into the next room without another word.

You bite your cheek and look on dumbfounded. That spike wall was so short! Toriel was definitely tall enough to step over them, and with a running start you could jump over them as well. The only kind of person this could be an obstacle to would have to be really short, perhaps a child? Maybe this is some kind of rule to whatever race of creature she is. For funzies you decide to try stepping on the untouched stones. They click under your heels but nothing happens. Damn, you kind of wanted to see if you could make that running jump.

The next room is much larger, thankfully, and the sound of flowing water greets you. A glance to the right confirms this. If you have fallen, how far under are you exactly? You wrack your brain trying to remember old high school lessons about underground streams but the hard facts elude you. The air is still dry, but has a more pleasant clay scent to it.

“To progress here, you will need to trigger several switches.” Ok, flipping switches. Sounds like an easy job, sign you up. “Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip.”

…You’re kidding?   

Hah _, kidding._

Seriously though, you feel like a toddler whose hands are being held! You’re an adult; as long as these puzzle aren’t actual rocket science it wasn’t like you needed the help. But, she did label them. You have to admit, that’s kinda cute.

Toriel makes a B-line over the bridge and continues on, revealing a small wooden sign. Walking up to it, you bend over and attempt to read it. Attempt. Most of the words seem smudged out.

***”Press…. Re…. igns!”**

There it is again! Maybe you are more exhausted than previously estimated. Sure, you narrate your own life, but it’s more of a ‘fill in the boredom’ thing than something that just comes out of nowhere. Shaking it off, you follow after Toriel, who is blocking the next bridge but is watching you with an encouraging smile. The wall to the left has a long switch, and is indeed labelled very clearly. You read the polite yellow note she wrote on the wall, and that little noise in your head doesn’t read it for you. Make up your mind, mind. Flipping the switch, she continues on the next path and stands in front of yet another set of short spikes. It almost bothers you enough to shout, ‘ _just jump over!’_ but with the look of hope she’s giving you, you can’t say no. Two more switches present themselves, one clearly marked and the other abandoned. As you raise your hand to flip the correct switch, her eyes glow with pride. In a spark of courage, you slide your hand across the rough texture of the stone wall to the other side. Right as you’re about to flip it, her encouraging façade slips a smidge.

“No no no! You want to press the other switch!” You giggle a little bit at her concern.

“Sorry Toriel! I’m just… _kidding_ around with you!” wow, same joke twice in a row. Someone should give you an award for originality. Her smile warbles and a laugh escapes her but she recovers herself quickly. You flip the correct switch and the spikes lower. Clapping her hands together, Toriel beams with pride.

“Splendid! I am proud of you, young one. Let us move into the next room.” She leaves you to your thoughts.

Inhaling a deep breath, you feel... accomplished. No real effort was put into any of that, yet you felt so nice inside.

_Ow_.

Maybe it was the praise you were receiving? She somehow was making you feel like a child again, and the honest encouragement warmed you so.

**Ow**.

Maybe it’s the fact that this might be some form of procrastination from the mundane routine of life from before, a dark thought you try to swallow.

_**Fuck**_! Or maybe it has to do with the fact that you’re picking at your fingers again. Looking down at your hands, you forgot about how sensitive the wounds on your fingertips where. Cuts only dot thumbs and forefingers, but the dryness of the air has made the skin around more accessible to dig under. Ugh, shitty habit since you were a kid. It becomes harder to control when you get anxious, but you felt just fine a second ago. Maybe you were getting anxious because you remembered this was a thing you do when getting anxious? The viscous cycle. You press onto the next room, not wanting to worry Toriel. This room is much smaller, and a white dummy sits on the far side.

“As a human living in the UNDERGROUND, monsters may attack you.” Ok, this confirms two things; you are in fact underground, and that she is most likely one of these monsters. This is fine and good, except for this now possible threat of assault. Time to bust out the pepper spray. She must’ve read your body language, not leaving much of a pause for your imagination to wander. “However, worry not!” Proceeding with an explanation of a FIGHT, you ditch the idea of reaching into the black knapsack to retrieve the spray. A friendly conversation was no problem, regardless of the fact that socializing and small talk is not a strength of yours.

So you approach the dummy as casually as possible, intending to converse with it like a normal, living person. What you don’t plan on is that similar, tight grip you like it did not too long ago with Flowey. It felt… different, however. This grip felt as normal as a magical grasp could; it didn’t have the same sharp coil as Flowey. The feeling the clutch gave off felt obligatory, rather than predatory. Hopefully this is a good thing.

The world disappears around you just like before and that blue heart shows up, only instead sitting in a box it floats near some orange boxes with different text.

***You encounter the Dummy.**

Thanks captain obvious.

As you suspect, the hearts follows your lead, even if there was a bit of lag. Landing on the ITEMS box, it shows a list of your bags contents. What did you expect?

You bring the heart over to the FIGHT box. It seems… tempting. How easy would it be to just cut this thing down, anyways? You resist, however. Toriel would be disappointed if you hurt something, and you didn’t have it in you to disappoint either her or yourself. Fighting wasn’t exact something you’re good at either. The ACT box only gives you two options, and Checking doesn’t really make any sense, so you bite the social bullet and select Talk.

“What’s, uh, up?”

***… It doesn’t seem much for conversation.**

It’s ok little dummy, you understand the feeling.

The room returns to normal and Toriel seems happy with you.

“Very good. You are very, very good.” You give her an odd look as she proceeds to room north of her. It didn’t feel like a normal comment to make, but it felt totally warm and lacked malice. “I wonder if you can solve this next puzzle!” the next hallway narrows as your proceed and-

And there’s that familiar pressure.

Well, almost familiar. This time the grip feels cold and… slimey?

***Froggit attacks you!**

The energy in the statement gives you mixed vibes. The frog like creature, Froggit you suppose, is not actually attacking, but is waiting patiently for you to ACT. So you do. You pay it a compliment. It doesn’t understands you, but is flattered anyways. Before it has a chance to react outside of that, Toriel slides into view, the stern look on her face shoos away the monster. If this is how all FIGHTS go, you should have nothing to worry about.

The welcoming air returns you’re stabled by the even stone ground beneath your feet. Toriel proceeds without other word, but it feels rather normal. Did you really seem so pathetic that you could not solve a dispute with a frog monster?

The room opens up to a massive pool of clear water. It shines and with the vastness of the room every ripple made could be heard. The scene would’ve been pleasant, if not ruined by the bridge of spikes, and nothing else. Yea, you can’t just hop your way over these.

“This is the puzzle, but…” She averts her eyes from your gaze. Shit, a puzzle?! You weren’t paying attention to anything at all! You were so focused on following her around you didn’t investigate the surroundings. Was the solution obvious? Hopefully not, you would seem like a fool. “Here take my and for a moment” Well she didn’t give you an option, really. Her massive white paw engulfs your own and you can’t help but worry if she notices how gross your hands might feel. Your earlier mental comment seems much more literal. Her pads are warm but calloused, and the fur between her fingers is so plush it’s unreal. She doesn’t recoil from the feeling of hose bizarre grooves in your fingers that you created, and you become a tad less self-conscious. Walking towards the wall of spikes, they retract as you both follow a pattern. The way she glances back at you makes you feel so… cared for. Did she really care this much already?

Maybe this place isn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! :DD please leave comments, criticism, suggestions, possible requests (big or small, for this fic or a fic of its own!) or anything really! I'm not getting a lot of comments, and I kinda like the encouragement! even a kudos is fine! 
> 
> Anyways, my tumblr is moonmadeofink.tumblr.com 
> 
> I hope to see you all soon, thanks for sticking around to read this! :D

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly the first and last chapters of any writing piece are the hardest imo, it's something i need to work on  
> But hey thanks for sticking around!! Let me know if i should keep this in 2nd POV, make and keep the upcoming chapters 3rd POV, if I should just use my name instead of it being a reader insert, etcetc  
> im always open to hearing anything!! :D
> 
> -MmoI


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